Iseult Murphy
Aug 8, 2026
Imaginative fantasy tale
This is a great fantasy adventure, full of great characters, well thought out world building, original magic, and a formidable foe. It is daunting starting a book of over 1000 pages. Will the plot be worth such a long investment of time? Will the characters be interesting? Why is the book so long in the first place? Once I started, the length made a lot of sense. Massie has created an intricate world with many different countries, each with its own culture and religion, as well as people like the titular mushroom knight who are governed by different magicks, rules, and gods. What’s more, the author immerses the reader in this complex world where we have to learn as we travel with the characters. I love this, and I can see why the story warrants such length. It took me until nearly halfway through the book before I could see how the different threads all came together. The basic story is divided into three groups. The first group, with the mushroom knights, are on a quest to destroy a powerful evil cube. The second group concerns a soldier fighting for one country. The third group is from the point of view of the Princess of the opposing country. We also see, at times, the corrupted mages seeking to recapture the cube, and the rulers of one of the warring countries. These groups all interact at various stages of the story in interesting ways. My only niggle is that the pacing for the group with the cube slowed down for a good portion of the second half of the book. Character traits for certain characters became repetitive, the narrative drive appeared to stop, and one of my favorite characters did something so awful to another member of the group that it destroyed them for me. I understand that this instance was to show the differences between the different members of the group, but it was a very serious thing and it was downplayed, leading to a connected incident that what might have been supposed to be played for laughs. However, the war storylines continue strong throughout the book, and the mushroom knights storyline becomes strong once again in the final quarter. The different challenges and skills of the characters come together for an exciting, action packed ending that had me racing through the pages to find out what happened next. I liked that the colours for evil were pink and purple. I imagined the corrupted tentacles glowing neon like something from “Color out of Space” (the Nicolas Cage movie). I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
